TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing biz, and from time to time, a recipe.
We don’t expect an elevator pitch from a poet, but can you tell us about your work in 2-3 sentences?
Aisle 228 is about the 2016 Chicago Cubs, listening to baseball on
the radio, and going to games with my father. The book highlights milestones
across Major League Baseball of the past 50 years and culminates in the Cubs
World Series win. Baseball fans any team will enjoy this title, along amateur
historians and readers of literary nonfiction—it also makes an excellent
gift!
What boundaries did you break in the writing of this book? Where does
that sort of courage come from?
Well, I’m not sure about
breaking boundaries, but I know of many female sports fans who were also
writers who never published work about sports. Maybe they wrote it but didn’t
show it to anyone? Not sure. Marianne Moore and Annie Dillard come to mind as
two of them. Many women have come up to me after readings or panels and said
wow, I never thought of sharing my experience with sports—they mention that
they aren’t really athletes or that there wasn’t a place for their voice in
that sphere. Other sports fans have approached me and said they never liked
poetry but they liked these poems. Conversely, others say they never thought of
writing poems about sports, but after hearing mine they have a “tennis poem” in
them or something, and that delights me!
Tell us a bit about the highs and lows of your book’s road to
publication.
I started writing this book in
2013-2014. I work a 9-5 and wrote and edited this book on (short) winter and
summer breaks and a few residencies I was lucky enough to get. It was rejected
100+ times. I went to trade publishers who didn’t know about poetry but liked
the sports angle. I had an agent briefly until he realized that he couldn’t
help me. I sent to dozens of contests only to hear from publishers “open to
anything” that sports writing was definitely out. I heard it was too short.
Sometimes I never heard back. I was told to self-publish dozens of times. I
kept revising—every six months—trying to remember “every line must be a poem
and the book itself should be one poem.”
The poems were largely written
by 2017, but 2022 was the acceptance year. What kept me going was knowing this
book was good and that someone should want to publish it. And I had to polish
out every impurity to get there. Also, it helped that readers reached out to me
asking when the book would be out and where they could get it. The buzz was
palpable and I’m so grateful for that. It pained me that I couldn’t give this
book to my audience so I kept going. I’m so grateful I found a press amenable
to the subject matter.
What’s your favorite piece of writing advice?
“No threat, no poem.” ~Dave
Smith
“Less is more.” –Maybe not
writing advice, but as a “spare” poet, it’s always worked for me. I find we try
to say things multiple times in our writing to ensure we’re getting our point
across, but readers are smart and we don’t have to say it more than once.
My favorite writing advice is “write until something surprises you.”
What surprised you in the writing of this book?
There were a lot of surprises in
the writing of this book. I guess the big one is that right in the middle of
writing it, the Cubs won the World Series! Also, Ichiro’s retirement (he seemed
like a demigod—almost like he’d never retire). So, those things changed the
course of the manuscript. What started out as perhaps being a melancholy love
song to this team of perpetual disappointment, quickly had to adapt. I was
thrilled to write about a winner, but was almost intimidated by the prospect. A
few publishers approached me wanting to publish the book back in 2016/7, hot on
the heels of the World Series win, but it just wasn’t ready. For better or
worse, I stuck to my guns on that one and the book became more holistic—not
just about the team’s win, but a lot more, too.
How do you approach revision?
I work on individual poems for a
long time. Sometimes a poem of 75 words lives in the revision process for two
or three years. When polishing poems for a book, even poems I see as “done”
sometimes need another pass. Not every poem in a book is going to be of equal
quality (despite what people tell you). So, they may not all have the same
“ceiling” of potential, but they at least need to have the same “floor”—does
that make sense? So those that stand out as clunky during a read through years
later still need work. I think part of what helped this book across the finish
line was that two poems that seemed a little rough to me for years finally were
“fixed” before the book was accepted. I had tinkered with them—revised them
eight different ways—but refused to give up on them. When I finally got them right,
the whole book just read better.
Inquiring foodies and hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated
with your book? (Any recipes I might share?)
My favorite ballpark food is
Gilroy Garlic Fries, available at Oracle Park in San Francisco. Enjoy them with
a view of the Bay! Here’s my jerry-rigged home recipe:
½ bag frozen
fries (Idaho Hand Cut Fries are a fave, or you can make your own potato wedges
if you’re fancy)
5/6 large
cloves of fresh garlic, minced
Freshly chopped
Parsley, cilantro, or chive (according to taste)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil (can
substitute truffle oil)
Parmesan cheese
(optional)
1.)
Bake fries according to bag directions
2.)
Put all other ingredients in small bowl and mix
3.)
Add hot, baked fries to large bowl and pour mix
on top
4.)
Use spatula to mix
5.)
Serve immediately (preferably with a steak
sandwich or burger!)
(Optional: Therabreath
Fresh Mint Mouthwash for after the meal. It does the trick!)
*****
READ MORE ABOUT THIS AUTHOR: https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/sandra_marchetti
READ MORE ABOUT THIS PUBLISHER: https://www.sfasu.edu/sfapress/
ORDER THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN TBR
STACK: https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781622889556/aisle-228/
OR https://www.amazon.com/Aisle-228-Sandra-Marchetti/dp/162288955X/
READ A SELECTION OF POEMS FROM THIS BOOK: https://www.havehashad.com/web_features/author/sandramarchetti